Black Swan
PRO: Layered fantasia on art, identity and creativity.
CON: Art, identity and creativity not really Academy's concerns.
The Fighter
PRO: Focus on struggling working class reflects America's recession-era sensibilities; along with The Town, blue-collar Boston has never gotten so much attention as in this engaging, inspired-by-real-events boxing drama.
CON: Didn't we nominate this last year when it was called The Wrestler?
Inception
PRO: Academy realizes it overlooked The Dark Knight, and decides to fulfill Christopher Nolan's dream ... within a dream ... within a dream.
CON: Statue hard to spin; did he really have to make a movie that makes less sense than Memento?
The Kids Are All Right
PRO: Lesbians.
CON: Not younger, ballerina lesbians.
The King's Speech
PRO: Intricate character study of British royalty has lessons for contemporary media age.
CON: Con: N-n-n-no tits.
127 Hours
PRO: It's not going out on a limb to say that this is a gripping movie once you screw up your courage to watch.
CON: Excruciating -- might as well have been called 127 Days.
The Social Network
PRO: The "movie about Facebook" turns a dry subject into a cinematic masterpiece, thanks to David Fincher's direction of a script by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men).
CON: "A Few Good Men" also describes this movie, which has no major female characters that aren't in there to look hot or have sex with Justin Timberlake.
Toy Story 3
PRO: Third installment in billion-dollar movie franchise a critical favorite; Academy often saves best picture award for the last of a trilogy.
CON: Mike Myers still waiting...and perhaps Academy is afraid of Toy Story 4ever?
True Grit
PRO: Two years ago, Slumdog Millionaire won with Indians and no cowboys, so cowboys with no indians just seems like equal time.
CON: Academy voters old enough to recognize historical inaccuracies based on their childhood memories of the Old West.
Winter's Bone
PRO: Between the dad in this and Christian Bale in The Fighter, meth-abusing finally gets its due.
CON: Breaking Bad: The Movie.
please input your name:
please input your e-mail address:
